Aprilia’s Sterlacchini: why there will be more overtaking in MotoGP from next year

Is Ogura similar?

Somehow, yes, probably because it’s not long since he came from Moto2, so he’s the kind of rider that uses the rear brake a lot and sometimes he is able to compensate even better than the others when we have a problem with the hard front tyre. In fact it’s not a secret – at the tracks where we suffer the most in terms of our weakness with the front tyre, like Sepang last year, like Barcelona and Brno this year, Ogura is our fastest rider.

And Fernández, kind of in between?

Yeah, in the beginning of our experience with Fernández, at the start of 2025 and also at the start of 2026 with the new bike, he was suffering really like Jorge with the front tyre. But then, after making some adjustments to the bike and also training him in the way he should ride the bike, he improved.

To be honest, I believe that for several reasons with Jorge, he’s able to arrive at the same level but with a bit more difficulty, probably because he’s so used to using his style.

You’re obviously Aprilia’s technical director, so you’re in charge of the motorcycle. But when we see Bez in a downward spiral with several crashes and injuries – a rider makes a mistake which leads to more mistakes – do you try to help the rider’s mental stability as well?

Yeah, my main focus is to be technical director, but in my role I also have a responsibility for the sporting side. Normally we try to address a situation in a way that tries to stimulate positive vision and positive thinking, because from a mistake you can approach it in two ways. You can use it as a basis to learn, or it can be something that makes you implode – and in this sport it’s not acceptable that you use a mistake to implode.

When we have a problem, you try to find a solution to work around the problem. So when Bez crashes, and we know why, so we can understand the crash, then we try to be stronger and stronger every day. And we try to do the same thing with all our riders. On the Thursday of every race, we have a meeting in preparation of the race. It’s what we call a sporting meeting – when we try to define the last race we did and our preparation for the upcoming race.

One of your big issues with the bike is the soft rear tyre pushing the front. I’ve spoken with a few engineers about this issue – some think this will be a smaller issue with the Pirellis, others think it will be a bigger issue…

To be honest, it’s super, super-difficult to understand what the situation will be with Pirelli, because clearly the front tyre behaviour is really different.

With Michelin, it’s clear that the grip balance of our bike needs to have something – probably for the same reason when the front tyre is in a weak situation for us – that helps us avoid generating too much edge grip with the rear tyre.

Which then pushes the front…

Exactly. Clearly, this situation has pros and cons, because with the soft rear tyre, in terms of balance and turning, we lose, but we have better acceleration. So it’s a matter of having to improve the whole project – bike settings, riding styles and everything – to fully exploit the potential of the soft tyre.

At the end of last year, we talked about the 850s and you were quite positive, suggesting that with less downforce and so on the racing will be better. Do you still think the racing will be more entertaining?

I think so, because there is less effect in terms of aerodynamics. One of the problems we have faced in recent years is the front tyre overheating when a rider is in the slipstream of another rider. I believe, from what we’ve seen so far with the Pirellis, that this problem will be much less.

And will the bikes pitch more, into and out of corners, which would make them look more spectacular, because the current bikes are very flat?

To be honest, it depends on what will be the requirements to make the Pirellis work. If, for example, we need a lot of load transfer, clearly we will raise the centre of gravity and clearly there could be more pitching.

The original idea of the new rules was to slow the bikes by two to three seconds a lap, but it looks like they’re going to be faster at some tracks. I mean, Marc said yesterday that the 850s will do one minute 18 seconds here, against one minute 19 seconds in today’s qualifying session. Would you agree with that?

In terms of reducing lap times by two to three seconds, forget it. I believe that at tracks like Brno, Mugello, where you have a lot of engine-limit phase, clearly we can arrive to within one second [of current lap times]. At tracks like this one [Sachsenring], purely in terms of the bikes, we will probably be super-close and it’s not impossible that with the aerodynamics and reduced weight that we could be even faster. And obviously on top of this we will have different tyres.

When Bez crashed yesterday, isn’t that the kind of crash in which the stability control should help?

The problem came in the entry phase, not completely off-throttle, but closing the throttle, so in that phase you’re not using traction control or stability control, it’s the rider that’s managing the throttle. Also, when Bez realised that the bike was sliding, he did something to avoid the highside, which amplified this super-sideways movement.

At the end of the season, will you be happy to see the end of ride-height devices?

I think that [the ride-height device] was the moment, because it started the discussion inside the MSMA [the manufacturers body] to try to reduce costs. Where I’m coming from – basically a quarter of a century in MotoGP – the bill for the bikes is three or four times bigger now, so we have to do something. It’s like what we did for top speed – reducing the displacement. You cannot ride a bike without a swingarm, but you can without a ride-height device, so it was time to remove it.

Will MotoGP have a budget cap soon?

I believe that could be healthy, but to do it is quite complex, so it’s better that we study carefully how we can do it.

Will leg wings be banned next year, with the new aero rules?

We’ve introduced a shape to try to limit the possibility to do it, to arrive at a situation where they are so small that they are useless. So we won’t have them, probably.

Our last question, the factory Ducati team has this special stroke-limiting shock to use with the ride-height device, which now anyone can use. Are you using it, or do you plan to use it?

We are investigating.